Coastal advocates question spill fine spending

Published: Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 6:52 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 6:52 p.m.

Environmental advocates are gearing up for a battle over how fines from the 2010 oil spill can be spent in Gulf states.

Last week, Louisiana officials announced that nearly $340 million in early restoration money would be spent primarily to restore barrier islands and launch fish stock research centers.

Neighboring states also announced their own restoration projects last week, but included in the list were plans to build BP-funded boardwalks and ferry boat access in Florida, a beachfront promenade in Mississippi and an $85.5 million luxury beach hotel and conference center in Alabama. Advocates say the money should only be used on projects that benefit the environment that the spill damaged.

“The oil spill money needs to be used to repair the damage that was done to the Gulf of the Mexico. Restoring oyster reefs in Mobile County and building a living shoreline in Baldwin County will have long-term benefits for the Alabama coast and all those who live there,” said David White, director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Gulf of Mexico Restoration Campaign. “However, we were shocked to see that a substantial portion of this money will be spent on a luxury hotel and conference center. The American public expects to see BP’s oil spill money spent on projects that will restore the health of the Gulf Coast, not on pork-barrel projects like a convention center.”

The projects were paid for with advance money from the Natural Resources Damage Assessment program, which aims to recoup environmental damages and lost human use of the ecosystem for outdoors activities such as fishing and boating.

In 2010, Louisiana and other Gulf states asked BP to make a down payment on the Natural Resources Damage Assessment process to immediately begin restoring environmental damage caused by the spill. The assessment is a legal process that documents the environmental impact of the spill and creates a plan BP must pay for to return coastal areas to pre-spill condition. But with the Gulf oil spill being so large, officials were worried the process could take a decade or longer.

In April 2011, BP finally agreed to make a $1 billion down payment on restoration projects in the Gulf.

Bethany Kraft, Gulf Restoration program director with the Ocean Conservancy, said one of the big problems with the $1 billion down payment is that it is being spent without an overarching plan or an investigation of environmental impacts and benefits.

“I want to see restoration happen as quickly as anyone else, but we need to know that this money is contributing to a puzzle that will lead us to comprehensive restoration,” Kraft said. “Without some documentation of how these projects are going to recover what we lost, we just can’t tell if they’re good or not.”

Projects aimed at restoring the marine ecosystem have so far largely been ignored, said Aaron Viles, deputy director of the Gulf Restoration Network. That’s despite how the Gulf took a large majority of the impacts from oil and dispersants.

“We have this incredibly unique opportunity to build one of the most comprehensive restoration projects in history in a place that really needs it — the Gulf,” Viles said. “And we can do that, or we can let the status quo spend it on beach boondoggles.”

Vile said the process will get more complicated as spill fines begin filtering down to states through the Restore Act. How that money can be spent is even less clearly defined, but there is language that allows it to be spent on coastal restoration and economic recovery projects.

“What we’ve tried to bring up as much as possible is that ecosystem restoration is economic recovery,” Viles said.

Passed by Congress in July after a year-long fight, the Restore Act will dedicate 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP oil spill to five Gulf Coast states. Under the act, BP can be fined $1,000 to $4,300 per barrel leaked after the deadly explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. That could add up to fines of between $5 billion and $20 billion.

The Legislature passed a bill last session dedicating the Restore Act fines to coastal restoration and protection, and there’s a bill in the Legislature this year proposing that same law as a constitutional amendment, which would make it harder to overturn, said state Rep. Gordon Dove, R-Houma.

But while Louisiana has long had a focus on environmental restoration, and a large plan and a list of projects at the ready, other Gulf states are not in the same position, said Restore or Retreat Executive Director Simone Maloz, who sits on the Restore Coalition that aims to ensure Restore Act dollars are used for coastal restoration.

“The Gulf is one system,” Kraft said. “Even if one state can get (restoration) 100 percent right, we’ll still suffer if we get the rest of it wrong. We can’t piecemeal this.”

Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 448-7636 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.

<p>Environmental advocates are gearing up for a battle over how fines from the 2010 oil spill can be spent in Gulf states.</p><p>Last week, Louisiana officials announced that nearly $340 million in early restoration money would be spent primarily to restore barrier islands and launch fish stock research centers.</p><p>Neighboring states also announced their own restoration projects last week, but included in the list were plans to build BP-funded boardwalks and ferry boat access in Florida, a beachfront promenade in Mississippi and an $85.5 million luxury beach hotel and conference center in Alabama. Advocates say the money should only be used on projects that benefit the environment that the spill damaged.</p><p>“The oil spill money needs to be used to repair the damage that was done to the Gulf of the Mexico. Restoring oyster reefs in Mobile County and building a living shoreline in Baldwin County will have long-term benefits for the Alabama coast and all those who live there,” said David White, director of the National Wildlife Federation's Gulf of Mexico Restoration Campaign. “However, we were shocked to see that a substantial portion of this money will be spent on a luxury hotel and conference center. The American public expects to see BP's oil spill money spent on projects that will restore the health of the Gulf Coast, not on pork-barrel projects like a convention center.”</p><p>The projects were paid for with advance money from the Natural Resources Damage Assessment program, which aims to recoup environmental damages and lost human use of the ecosystem for outdoors activities such as fishing and boating.</p><p>In 2010, Louisiana and other Gulf states asked BP to make a down payment on the Natural Resources Damage Assessment process to immediately begin restoring environmental damage caused by the spill. The assessment is a legal process that documents the environmental impact of the spill and creates a plan BP must pay for to return coastal areas to pre-spill condition. But with the Gulf oil spill being so large, officials were worried the process could take a decade or longer.</p><p>In April 2011, BP finally agreed to make a $1 billion down payment on restoration projects in the Gulf.</p><p>Bethany Kraft, Gulf Restoration program director with the Ocean Conservancy, said one of the big problems with the $1 billion down payment is that it is being spent without an overarching plan or an investigation of environmental impacts and benefits.</p><p>“I want to see restoration happen as quickly as anyone else, but we need to know that this money is contributing to a puzzle that will lead us to comprehensive restoration,” Kraft said. “Without some documentation of how these projects are going to recover what we lost, we just can't tell if they're good or not.”</p><p>Projects aimed at restoring the marine ecosystem have so far largely been ignored, said Aaron Viles, deputy director of the Gulf Restoration Network. That's despite how the Gulf took a large majority of the impacts from oil and dispersants.</p><p>“We have this incredibly unique opportunity to build one of the most comprehensive restoration projects in history in a place that really needs it — the Gulf,” Viles said. “And we can do that, or we can let the status quo spend it on beach boondoggles.”</p><p>Vile said the process will get more complicated as spill fines begin filtering down to states through the Restore Act. How that money can be spent is even less clearly defined, but there is language that allows it to be spent on coastal restoration and economic recovery projects.</p><p>“What we've tried to bring up as much as possible is that ecosystem restoration is economic recovery,” Viles said.</p><p>Passed by Congress in July after a year-long fight, the Restore Act will dedicate 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP oil spill to five Gulf Coast states. Under the act, BP can be fined $1,000 to $4,300 per barrel leaked after the deadly explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. That could add up to fines of between $5 billion and $20 billion.</p><p>The Legislature passed a bill last session dedicating the Restore Act fines to coastal restoration and protection, and there's a bill in the Legislature this year proposing that same law as a constitutional amendment, which would make it harder to overturn, said state Rep. Gordon Dove, R-Houma.</p><p>But while Louisiana has long had a focus on environmental restoration, and a large plan and a list of projects at the ready, other Gulf states are not in the same position, said Restore or Retreat Executive Director Simone Maloz, who sits on the Restore Coalition that aims to ensure Restore Act dollars are used for coastal restoration.</p><p>“The Gulf is one system,” Kraft said. “Even if one state can get (restoration) 100 percent right, we'll still suffer if we get the rest of it wrong. We can't piecemeal this.”</p><p>Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 448-7636 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.</p>